


i’d like to hold her (head under water)

by makeashadow_ao3



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bonkai, Daddy Issues, F/M, May/December Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:03:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22581127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makeashadow_ao3/pseuds/makeashadow_ao3
Summary: Kai hates his new step mother.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett/Joshua Parker, Bonnie Bennett/Malachai "Kai" Parker
Comments: 33
Kudos: 87





	i’d like to hold her (head under water)

**Author's Note:**

> this is Not my porn tropes fic. malachai-hades-parker gifted me her trope to help me out of my bk writing funk. 
> 
> this is a canon divergent au. imagine joshua parker stepped in to mentor bonnie instead of atticus shane. bonnie’s about 22 in this fic.
> 
> tw: allusions to grooming. character death. blood. mutilation consistent with canonical magical rituals. homicidal ideations. nineties references.
> 
> song title from the sublime song “doin’ time”

_ ”cheers, darlin’. here’s to you and your lover man”   
_damien rice — “cheers darlin’”

_ ”look like th’ innocent flower but be the serpent under ‘t.”   
_macbeth

He laps with olympic finesse. The surface yields smoothly each time he breaks for air, his limbs leaving currents in their wake. 

He swam in his youth, mostly in the pool he eventually drowned one of his siblings in, but not like this. It wasn’t until _ after _ when he took to the water like a shark takes to the wounded.

When he runs out of room, he tucks and torpedos down the lane in the opposite direction. He gulps down oxygen with every stroke and with it comes the flashes. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ I Love Lucy played on the television, static fuzzing the picture. He knocked the antennae with his elbow, but the image worsened. _ Great_, he thought. One hand moved to his hip. It’s the chocolate factory episode, his favorite one. He set down the can of pork and beans, which was always just beans, and slapped the side of the ancient set. It was old even for ‘94. _

_ The screen finally gained clarity, the black and white sitcom playing normally. Chocolate had been stuffed in factory blouses and cheeks, the laughter of people long dead uproarious at the antics. _

_ Kai’s smile fell. _

_ A small, brown woman entered the living room, strolled in like she lived there. His eyes darted to the row of picture frames on the wall. One frame housed a toddler, no more than two years old, grinning with yellow cake smashed on her face. Green eyes beamed back at him, not unlike the eyes glaring at him from across the room. _

_ “What are you doing in my Grams’ house?” _

_ “What are you doing in your Grams’ house in _ my _ prison world?” _

_ Before either could answer, a graying man walked in behind her. His father. Shit. _

  
  
  
  
  
  


The doors bang open with an entrance. 

“Pool’s closed!”

The council bought out the entire hotel for the weekend, for tomorrow’s event, but he’s leader now. With the mood he’s in, he really doesn’t want to share the depths with anyone.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ Josette tripped to her knees in front of her father, Bonnie, and Kai. Kai didn’t care and her father wouldn’t listen anymore, so her pleading, ice blue eyes turned to the Bennett. _

_ “Your grandmother would be so disappointed in you.” _

_ The smaller woman exhaled a shaky breath and solemnly nodded. “All things considered, I think she’d understand.” _

_ Impressed by her nerves of steel, Kai watched as Bonnie stepped out of the circle and let the Gemini coven’s oldest twins merge uninterrupted. Finally. _

  
  
  
  
  
  


The intruder ignores him. Slippers slap against the damp tiling announcing his new step mother wrapped in a white bathrobe.

He runs his hand down his face, blinking chlorinated water out of his eyes. “I said pool’s closed.” He spits and grimaces until she takes his word and leaves. 

She doesn’t. 

Instead, she pulls off her robe and throws it over the back of a plastic chair. While basic, there is nothing modest about her black bikini. She’s covered where it counts, secured by three tiny ties.

_ Easily dispatched in a hurry_, then he shakes the thought away. Unlike Bonnie, Kai swims naked.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Her voice echoes off the cavernous walls of the indoor pool. She sits at the edge and dips toes painted red into the cool water of the farthest lane. “I’m nervous about tomorrow’s ceremony, but I didn’t want to worry your father.”

She reaches up and works her curtain of curly, black hair into a low bun. Her top shifts with each movement, ribs peeking then disappearing with every breath.

“Don’t see why you have to bother me with it.” His tone is brusque, but it’s better that way. 

He doesn’t like being alone with her. Doesn’t like her invasion. Can’t fathom her marrying his father of all people. It can’t possibly be for love. _ Who does that_?

Slim arms brace against the tile flooring just long enough for her to slink down into the water. The water cuts across her collarbones, her middle a warped image of curves. She wades forward and rests her arms on the buoyant lane partition. 

Her gold wedding band and garish engagement ring are glaring absent from her thin ring finger. 

“I made a promise to Joshua that I’d do it, but I think I’m getting cold feet.” 

Emerald eyes glow with the low lights reflecting off the pool’s surface. They’re hypnotic, calling to him with a siren song he disobeys - barely.

“Whatever you do or don’t do it is between you and him. You’re the one who has to fuck him.”

With that harsh statement, he ducks and shoots into another angry lap. He swims like a predator creature. Before long, another presence disturbs the water at their own languid pace, her breaststroke to his front crawl. 

She’s not there to race or fight him, which is so different from the last time they were alone together.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ She stood before a full length mirror, hands smoothing out non-existent wrinkles. The gown was simple and old fashioned, pearls inlaid in the layer of lace on top of white taffeta. It hugged her body seductively before loosening at her hips and cascading to the floor. There was no train or veil or parent to give her away. Just a constipated barbie with fangs as her maid of honor. Which was fine. The backwoods chapel didn’t see much action anymore and this was a private affair. _

_ Still, Kai moved into the small dressing room, his reflection towering behind her as he nears. She turned, her smile warm. Far warmer than he usually received from his remaining siblings and coven members. _

_ They didn’t approve of the development, belaboring the merge of one set of twins for the remaining others only to finally follow through with the older pair. They especially didn’t like the involvement of a hardly of-age Bennett. Not after the carnage and their patience and trust in Joshua. _

_ Spirits protect the Parkers when they hear about _ this _ union. _

_ But Bonnie smiled like they were kindred spirits. Eyes roved over his black tuxedo. Rented. “You clean up well.” Her eyebrow arched. _

_ When they first encountered each other in her grandmother’s cottage, he wore nothing but briefs. _

_ “Except-” She stepped forward, bare feet padding the worn chapel office carpet, and ruffled his hair. It’d been combed back, but her fingers made it a little messy. The gesture was too intimate, though. Like they were longtime friends sharing a chummy moment. _

_ He caught her wrist. They locked eyes. “You gonna lick your thumb and wipe my cheek when I get dirty, too? Mommy?” _

_ Something crossed her sharp face but was gone when he blinked. The surprise of his touch had given way to wrath? Anger? Distrust and suspicion? He couldn’t pin it before it flitted into demure passiveness, but it was there. _

_ She wiggled her wrist in his hold, her gold charm bracelet jingling against the ridge of his hand. The offending arm retreated to its owner's side. “I want your word this won’t be a red wedding.” _

_ He snorted in humor. “What do you care?” _

_ She blinked, remaining tight lipped. No one knew what deal Joshua struck with his orphaned mentee to get her to agree to matrimony, but it was enough that the distrust between Kai and Bonnie went both ways. Whatever his father had planned, she was in on it or she was stupid. He had no use for either. _

_ “I want your word - as coven leader.” _

_ “As you wish, Mommy Dearest.” _

  
  
  
  
  
  


Kai breaks for air, his focus shattered, and moments later so does Bonnie. Then she dips under and swims across lanes until only one partition separates them. 

“You know,” she wipes stringy hair out of her face. “You have to do it with me. You should be able to give me some advice or peace of mind.”

He scoffs. “I don’t give a shit about your peace of mind.”

“Then tell me what to expect.” The demand in her voice is clear, and he takes a bit of pleasure from it. No one talks to him like that now. Too scared he’ll snap and kill them, or out of reverence. But, Bonnie doesn’t cower. 

A thrill runs through him. 

“It’s in the grimoire.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been over it a thousand times. But you’re leader...and you’ve been with the coven for a longer time than most.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’ve never done a magic linking spell. No Gemini witch has. All this comes with the territory. It’s how our magic stays with _ us_.”

She swallows. “Is this a bad idea?”

He smirks, more poison on his tongue. “Should’ve asked yourself that before you got hitched to a geriatric.”

The insult isn’t taken in stride. When he goes to swim away, she mutters _ phesmatos ventus, _throwing him into a temporary whirlpool. His back slams against the concrete siding, and he’s slow to surface. 

In his daze, his assailant swims closer.

Kai glowers. Sure, he’s wanted to do some damage, inflict some pain on the meddling witch, but he’s been on his best behavior. Besides, he hasn’t yet had an identifiable reason to...until now. “You just attacked a coven leader. That’s a punishable offense.”

_ She’ll hide behind her position as an elder’s wife or claim self-defense_, he anticipates ruefully. She does neither. She grits her teeth. “I’d like to see you try.”

He huffs, glares down his nose at her. They’re close enough to feel the other’s winded breathes on their wet skin. If she’s realized he doesn’t wear swimming trunks, her poker face is perfect.

“Whether I bind my Bennett magic to the Gemini or not, you should be careful who you insult. I’m not going to ask you to treat me with respect,_ Mister Coven Leader_, because you will. Don’t forget whose blood freed you.”

The warning is clear. She can and will toss him away and leave him to rot at any given moment. All she needs is provocation and maybe not even that. 

Then, as a taunt, she raises her thumb and rubs it along his cheekbone. 

She backstrokes away and doesn’t hesitate to march out, leaving him with the burning sensation of her touch, a growing ache in his back, and his erection hard in his hand. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


The guests are seated, chairs encircling a makeshift platform. The banquet hall is filled and spelled against non-magical eavesdroppers. Kai stands front and center on the stage, the twins on the floor at both ends. Liv chews on her thumbnail while Luke fidgets with his own pocket square before straightening his tie. They’re all in their solstice best, but Kai is decidedly tie-less. 

As the newlyweds stride into the circle, the coven rise from their seats. There are murmurs and soft gasps seeing the Bennett witch arm and arm with the eldest Parker. Their matching rings are strangely absent, but Bonnie herself is a sight.

The picture of virginal innocence at the secret wedding, she now commands the attention of every eye present. Ornately beaded fabric the color of oxblood hugs her body like a second skin. A black, lace veil sits on her curls like a crown and flows gently behind her. 

Kai relishes in the ebbing chaos. There’s delicious irony in the way Joshua walks Bonnie down the aisle to meet Kai, how he’ll hand off his bride to his son. He may be in the midst of an existential crisis marrying the same witch he’d taken in after her grandmother’s passing, but he’ll never be rid of Kai besting him at every turn.

Bonnie ascends the few steps to meet the Gemini leader. He swallows as she holds her hands out for him to take. In place of her wedding rings is a slim silver band overlapping itself. At second glance, he makes out the snake eating its own tail. Ouroboros. 

Definitely not a Gemini heirloom. He would know.

The two witches grasp hands and make eye contact, jade meeting slate. 

They haven’t spoken since last night. After their altercation, he’d gone back to his room and jerked himself to release in the hot shower then opted to have breakfast delivered to his room instead of enjoying the buffet the council ordered.

All night he had one thought. He should’ve killed her. Drowned her in the hotel swimming pool and acted none the wiser when her bloated body was found the next morning by an unsuspecting family of four. He could’ve done it with no fingerprints and wiped the security footage without breaking a sweat. He could’ve…

The surrounding members clasp hands with their neighbors as the blond twins light the torches and prepare the salt circle around the stage. He takes the moment to lean forward and whisper in her ear. “Where’d you learn to swim like that?”

She lifts her chin, lip grazing his earlobe. “_Lifeguard_.”

“Well, CJ, you look very Death Becomes Her.”

“You would know.”

They pull back. Her face is the portrait of calm. Nothing suspicious about this witch. 

Should anything go wrong during the ritual, the coven casts a protection spell over themselves and the pair before taking their seats. Joshua addresses the gathered, explaining what they all already know. The Bennett witch is going to link her magic to the Gemini, officially combining the oft-collaborative covens. It’s the one thought anyone has had since Bonnie came into the northwest fold.

Behind him, Kai and Bonnie hold a staring contest. He runs his thumbs back and forth, his thumb ring rolling over her knuckles. Her grip tightens and nails dig into the meat of his hands. In return, he siphons a bit of her magic. It’s nothing worse than static shock, but her eyes widen and teeth clench. His reaction reads one of shamelessness. _ You deserved that_.

People forget he has the stagnated maturity of a twenty-two year old. 

“Bonnie?” Joshua turns and addresses his young bride. 

She yanks her hands back because Kai won’t let them loose and shoots him a withering glare. From a velvet sheath hidden in the ruffled crinoline of her dress, she withdraws a knife. Not just any knife. It’s the hunting knife Kai originally gutted Josette with all those years ago. The one she hid her magic in and absorbed it back just before the merge she was always meant to lose. 

The poetry is commendable. 

The onlookers wait with bated breath for his reaction. He won’t give them the satisfaction, so with a placating smile he holds his palm out and extends it to her.

She cuts herself open first. It’s not shallow and it’s not pretty. The rusted metal snags on her skin, blood quickly pooling. She balls it into a fist. Then, she grips the knife tighter and drags the tip across Kai’s hand. For leverage, he presses against the sting until his cut is equally deep.

Then they grasp bleeding hands, close their eyes, and chant. _ Med dette seglet, cum soluta nobis saman. Med dette seglet, cum soluta nobis saman. Med dette seglet, cum soluta nobis saman. _

When the spell is over, they drop hands and step away from one another. Their cuts are fully healed, and there appears to be no delayed side effects. Relief washes over every witch present, but in the celebration Kai disappears. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


He lies in bed, palm itching. The pink scar will vanish in a few more hours, but he worries the sensitive skin in the meantime. Runs his thumb back and forth relieving the binding ceremony.

Bennetts don’t need sacrifices to keep their magic. They don’t have to merge or sacrifice their daughters. They simply remain in the favor of their spirits and natural magic is theirs for the taking. 

To permanently link them with the Gemini would void the other. She would become a Gemini, a _ Parker_, forever and ever amen, eschewing her spirits and her future heirs subject to the merge. Or the Gemini would have to revoke all access to their merge mandated magic and answer to the Bennett spirits, who are far more temperamental than the coven is used to.

In the end, they settled on an old spell allowing one to draw upon the other’s magic without unpleasant adverse effects on the other. Her life would remain her own, she would still answer to her spirits and seek guidance from her grandmother, and could unbind herself at any time. 

It’s seemingly a win-win for her, and that rubs Kai the wrong way. But the council wanted a Bennett. Joshua wanted her, and, deep in the unfurling of his post-merge psyche, Kai wants her, too.

A knock comes at the door. The coven leader gets the presidential suite on the top floor away from anyone and everyone. With a groan, he pulls on a robe and goes to answer, ready to rudely turn away visitors. When he opens the door, there is no one and the hallway is empty. Then, an invisible force pushes out the way. Smirking, he closes the door and turns to the veiled witch, who couldn’t hide her signature if she tried.

That smirk soon drops when the spell lifts and Bonnie stands before him in tattered lingerie covered in blood and holding the knife from the ceremony. Any usual humor is gone from her stricken face, but she manages a wry greeting. “I seek audience with your greatness.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


“You put a boundary spell on the room?”

“No. I left the door ajar as if he’d invited his attacker inside. _ Duh_.”

“Sound proofed it?”

“Since we first checked in.”

“Please tell me you didn’t make a mess.”

The drain circles with strawberry liquid, water and soap lather washing Joshua Parker’s blood off her clothes and body. Kai leans against the closed door of the bathroom and watches his now-widowed step mother erase evidence of his father’s murder. 

She throws him a look. “I’m wearing the mess, but no. The wound looks like a vampire didn’t finish draining him and rushed out before they were caught. It was an offensive spell my cousin once taught me in case I got into trouble.”

“But-” Then he sees it. The blood on the knife isn’t his father’s. Water runs down a serrated gash on the back of her upper arm. Joshua attacked Bonnie from behind.

“A lover’s quarrel?” He crosses his arms, attempts to keep his composure as Bonnie slips off her gown and lets it fall to the shower floor. He stares. The real thing matches all his daydreams. It takes all his might to remain where he is. 

“I wouldn’t call it that. He asked me to do something and I decided not to.” She whispers _ incendia_, setting the gown on fire, and then lets the ashes slip down the shower drain. “He wanted me to link the Gemini to myself temporarily, giving him a window to kill you, so I could then trade that link back to him. 

“Instead, I ingested vampire blood before the ceremony-”

“Explains the healed hands.”

“Yeah. But if he went after you, you’d heal. Or if he killed you, you’d turn, but because I’m also linked, your coven would be fine. He didn’t like that very much.”

The split skin of her arm knits itself together before his eyes. She shuts off the shower and wraps herself in a white towel. She passes him and moves into the bedroom. He follows her.

A tray of picked over room service is on the dresser by the television, and she goes to it. Pops a few room temperature grapes in her mouth and washes it down with the remaining dregs of orange juice. No. It’s a mimosa.

“You don’t seem the least bit torn up about being a widow. Or murder.” 

She shrugs, picking out a slice of pineapple sticky with syrup. “Neither do you.”

“You’re friends with vampires. The council will have to look at them first.”

“Then we’ll give them a vampire, won’t we?”

Kai scratches at his jaw. “You did all that for little ol’ me?”

The side of her mouth quirks up. “No.” She perches on the mahogany writing desk. “I did it for me.”

He shrugs off his robe, which he never bothered to tie, and approaches her. His arms cage around her as he leans in close, pressing his thighs against her knees. Hiking up the towel enough to give him purchase to fit between her legs, she gives him that expectant blink with her stubborn lifted chin, daring him to make a move, any move. 

“Where do I come in?” he asks. 

Her lips quiver but she keeps her composure. “Anywhere you want.”

He wastes no time crushing his mouth against hers and gripping at her waist. She responds in kind, knees clamping at his sides and hands reaching for his neck. 

His long fingers waste no time venturing under the towel and meeting her hot cunt. They explore her aching folds before he sinks one digit into her. She breaks apart from the kiss to gasp. His finger crooks toward his palm and rubs against her inner ridges, while the base of his hand applies pressure to her clit. He inserts another finger and her head falls back, revealing her long neck. Kai dips to kiss her exposed skin.

With his free hand, he grips her chin and cants her head towards him. “Look at me.”

Her eyelids flutter open to reveal blown-out pupils ringed in green. Her lips separate for her to whisper, “I’m right here,” before pressing them to his.

She’s close to coming undone, but Kai’s as impatient as ever. He drags her off the desk, spins her out of her towel, and holds her by the hips. Hands brace themselves on the desk and her shapely ass grinds back into him. He’s quick to shed his boxers and she instantly clenches when he enters her from behind. 

She barely has time to acclimate to his girth before he pistons in and out with punishing speed. Fingertips dig into her cheeks, nails imprinting in her skin. He could make her bleed if he wanted to, but they’ll have time for that later. 

Leaning forward, he blows hot breath on the side of her damp neck. “He never fucked you like this, did he?”

“_ Never_,” she pants.

  
  
  
  
  
  


(As grateful as she was for Joshua Parker taking her in during her senior year of high school, mentoring her along with Liv and Luke, and giving her community when she had none, Bonnie never once let him touch her the way he wanted to, the way Kai fucks her. But she’ll keep that secret to herself)

**Author's Note:**

> hi. if you made it this far, i appreciate you. if you like this fic, pls drop me a review. i honestly don’t know if this should be my last fic for this fandom bc i don’t often get the external validation that motivates me to keep posting. thanks a bunch!


End file.
